Inaugural Organ Concert and Restoration

Posted on: 04 December 2018

On Friday, 30th November, the Trinity community and organ music lovers gathered for the Inaugural Organ Concert in celebration of the installation of the new Goetze & Gwynn organ and restoration of the iconic 1684 Pease organ case in Trinity’s Public Theatre.

Built in 1684, the organ in the Public Theatre is an important part of the cultural heritage of Trinity and of Ireland. Its latest major refurbishment, completed in 2017, has been made possible through the generosity of the John and Ann Boland Estate, the Trinity College Association & Trust and a number of individual donors.

The programme included works for the organ by composers such as William Byrd, J.S. Bach, William Boyce and more. The concert was performed by two of Ireland’s leading organists, David Adams and Malcolm Proud.

The project was guided by Professors David Grayson and Shane Allwright, together with advice about the specification from Ian Bell (consultant) and Professor Andrew Johnstone. It was managed by Monica Janson, Design Services Manager, Estates & Facilities.

Provost Patrick Prendergast and Prof David Grayson

Refurbishment and history 

In 2017 Goetze & Gwynn made a new organ in the historic cases in the Public Theatre at Trinity. The Great organ, commissioned in 1683, two years before the birth of J S Bach, was originally made by Lancelot Pease in 1684 as a 10ft transposing organ.

The 1684 organ was moved to the new Public Theatre in the 1760s. The new chapel was provided with an organ by Samuel Green in 1797. It is difficult to avoid the feeling that there was always an intention to replace it with a fashionable new organ when funds became available. The cases were not well made; they were repeatedly nailed together, shored up and repainted. Telford’s organ was itself rebuilt in the 1950s, and the front pipes were covered with dark brown paint. Gilded patterns were applied in time to welcome King Juan Carlos of Spain when he received an honorary degree in 1981.

The new organ is based on Renatus Harris’s organ at St Botolph Aldgate, which was built in about 1702, the same time as Cuvillie’s work at Trinity. The original stop list emerged from research during the building, but in any case it was decided to provide an organ with more versatility, including in this case an expanded keyboard compass and a small pedal organ. The old front pipes had a pitch about half a semitone sharper than modern pitch, though the tuning windows were very haphazard.

The original appearance of the case was confirmed by a photograph of the Public Theatre taken in about 1904. Credit is due to the many people that worked on this project including the organ designer Dominic Gwynn, metal pipes by Joe Marsden, Chris Davies made the keys and the wooden pipes with Nick Hagen. Edward Bennett was responsible for the wind chests, key and stop mechanisms. The reeds were voiced by Rob and Abigail Balfour Rowley.  The historic paint was investigated by Catherine Hassall. The original appearance of the front pipes, the shields and other ornaments has been magically recovered by Chris and Roanna Wells, restoring the original paint, reconstituting the patterns where there had been paint loss, and gilding the elements originally gilt, or originally intended to be gilt. The casework was painted by Charles and Liz Marsden. Nick Hagen restored and completed the historic cases, which were crudely made originally and had deteriorated to an appalling condition. He replaced missing carving and mouldings. Joe Marsden restored the equally crudely made and equally deteriorated front pipes.

Media Contact:

Katie Byrne, Senior Executive Officer | katie.s.byrne@tcd.ie | +353 1 896 4168